21m suspect sickies cost UK economy £1.6bn

The irresistible lure of the duvet and the tantalising prospect of a day filled with tea and daytime TV resulted in 21m "suspect sickies" last year that cost the UK economy £1.6bn, a survey has revealed.

A poll conducted by the CBI and insurers AXA revealed that employees took an average of seven days off sick in 2006, and lost 175m working days. This compares with an average of 6.6 days in 2005, and 164m days lost. Long-term absence of 20 days or more accounted for 43% of all working time lost, costing £5.8bn. The total cost of workplace absence last year was £13bn.

Employers said they attributed around 12% of short-term absences to staff "pulling a sickie", which meant 21m days were lost at a cost of £1.6bn.

A majority of bosses said some staff liked to extend their weekend by taking Mondays or Fridays off sick, 68% noted a connection between dubious sick days and holidays, while 39% said absence was linked to special events such as sporting tournaments.

Susan Anderson, director of human resources policy at the CBI, said: "Everybody gets sick and employers understand that most absence is genuine." But she said the culture of absenteeism in some workplaces had to be addressed, pointing out that the gap between organisations with the highest and lowest absence was more than nine days.

The survey, which was conducted across 399 public and private sector organisations, showed that the public sector had the highest average absence at nine days an employee, up half a day from 2005, while the private sector lost 6.3 days. Public sector absence was 44% higher than in the private sector. Ms Anderson said: "If the public sector could match average private sector absence levels then the taxpayer would save £1.1bn a year - enough to build seven new general hospitals."

Colds, flu and other minor illnesses were identified by most people as among the top five main causes of short-term sickness. Back pain was the second most highly ranked. The survey also identified medical appointments as a main cause of absence for workers.

The highest levels of absence were found in the north-west, which lost 8.8 days an employee last year. Greater London had the lowest levels of absence in the UK, losing 5.8 days.